Monthly Archives: July 2006

This is reminiscent of WWII when the U.S. fought Imperial Japan in the Pacific Campaign. The Japanese had a prolonged time to build up and fortify their caves, tunnels, and pillboxes against air strikes. In short, nothing but a ground assault would led to victory.

Likewise, Israel has no choice in the matter but to increase the ground offensive against Hezbollah. How else can they stop the rocket attacks (over 2,000 by now)? It is the right move. It is the only way to root out the terrorist.

QANA, Lebanon – Israel approved plans to widen its ground offensive against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon early Tuesday. The country’s Security Cabinet also rejected calls for a cease-fire until an international peacekeeping force, preferably headed by NATO, was in place. …[Read more]

“Say Anything,” has posted a video documentary about the dangers posed by radical Islamic jihadists, or militant Islam.

The documentary contains actual video from Arab television networks that show how this radical element has become an increasingly mainstream voice in Arab media, and how they have painted the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom as the enemies of the Arab world.

This is a must see video clip, to understand the threat posed to the civilized world. You should take the time to watch this documentary, for if we do not understand what it is that we are fighting in the war on terrorism then how can we muster the will and determination to prevail in victory?

UNITED NATIONS The U.N. Security Council passed a weakened resolution Monday giving Iran until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions. …[Read more]

What other country, when attacked in an unprovoked aggression across a recognized international frontier, is then put on a countdown clock by the world, given a limited time window in which to fight back, regardless of whether it has restored its own security?

What other country sustains 1,500 indiscriminate rocket attacks into its cities — every one designed to kill, maim and terrorize civilians — and is then vilified by the world when it tries to destroy the enemy’s infrastructure and strongholds with precision-guided munitions that sometimes have the unintended but unavoidable consequence of collateral civilian death and suffering? . . . [Click for more]

Haaretz comments: “The unfortunate bombing in Qana that caused the tragic deaths of more than 50 people, nearly half of them children, is not just “another bombing” in which innocent civilians were found in proximity to terrorists. Like the tragic bombardment of the same village during Operation Grapes of Wrath a decade ago, and like the killing of the eight Israel Railways workers two weeks ago in Haifa – this is an event that immediately encapsulates the explosive effect and the arbitrary brutality of the fighting in the North. Hopefully, this event will not stop the process of forging a diplomatic arrangement for ending the war. The visit of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the region, and the tight timetable that will likely involve a UN Security Council resolution on Wednesday, suggest that the military operation is nearing its end. In the meantime the Israel Defense Forces is fighting to improve the conditions under which its campaign will be concluded, and every achievement against Hezbollah in the battlefield will contribute to the shaping of the diplomatic settlement.”

The Jerusalem Post The Jerusalem Post writes: ” ‘It’s absolutely dreadful, it’s quite appalling,’ said UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, among the many international reactions of shock following the deaths of some 50 Lebanese citizens in a building that Israel believed harbored Hizbullah terrorists launching missiles at Israeli cities. Yes, it is appalling. It is appalling that Hizbullah would deliberately target Israel’s cities, and do so from civilian areas, hoping that Israel would kill greater numbers of Lebanese civilians. It is appalling that this barbaric tactic – after some 5,000 Israeli bombing sorties – has proved “effective,” with tragic consequences for innocent Lebanese people, and producing the expected international fallout: not against Hizbullah, but against Israel. It is also appalling that for three weeks over a million Israelis – Jews and Arabs – have been living in bomb shelters, never knowing when a missile aimed at them will kill them or destroy their homes… Are we, the nations of the world that are threatened by an Iranian victory, automatons who are helpless to act in our own overwhelming interests? Are we powerless to overturn the bizarre moral calculus by which Israel is held accountable for the barbaric tactics of its enemies? We are not. We – the US, UK, and Israel, for starters – must stand together for the truth and our own interests. We must not submit to the epitome of stupidity and immorality, masquerading as moral blackmail. If we do, we have no one to blame but ourselves.”

Hatzofeh says that, “Yesterday’s event in Qana was regrettable,” and suggests that, “The Arab world has not learned a thing and its willingness to sacrifice innocent civilians by bringing them to centers of fighting knows no boundaries.” The editors aver that, “We must apologize and continue striking at Hizbullah.”

Yediot Aharonot believes that, “Accepting responsibility for the tragic bombing of Qana does not cancel the justification for the overall war,” and adds, “This is a just and justified war and the bombings are also just and justified.” The editors assert that, “Today, Israel bows its head over the fresh graves of the civilians who were killed in the Qana bombing,” but also declare that, “Israel will not stop the fighting until the reason for its outbreak is uprooted. And this will happen only when Hizbullah is disarmed of its missiles and western and Lebanese military forces deploy in southern Lebanon, according to UN Security Council Resolution #1559.”

Lebanon’s government must be in power without the threat of disruptive forces to “exercise sole authority over its territory,”

A multi-national force must be dispatched to southern Lebanon along with humanitarian aid

Syria must “end its support for terror and respect the sovereignty of Lebanon”

Iran must end its “financial support and supply” for Hezbollah terrorists

The capstone

Bush said, “For decades, the status quo in the Middle East permitted tyranny and terror to thrive. As we saw Sept. 11, the status quo in the Middle East led to death and destruction in the United States and it had to change. So America is opposing the forces of terror and promoting the causes of democracy across the greater Middle East.”

“This task is long, it is difficult work, but it is necessary work,” Bush added.

Earlier, Bush said the United States will work with the United Nations to address “the root causes” of the conflict in the Middle East.

“We want there to be a long-lasting peace, one that is sustainable,” he told Cuban-American business leaders at a breakfast held in a Cuban-style restaurant. “I assured the people here that we will work toward a plan at the United Nations Security Council that addresses the root causes of the problem, so that whatever comes out of the Security Council will be able to last and that the people of Lebanon and Israel will be able to remain in peace. That’s what we want.”

Israel then said it would halt aerial strikes for 48 hours to determine whether the targeting was correct in Qana. Early Monday local time, Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon, near the village of Taibe. Israeli military officials said the actions only protected the ground forces operating in the area. The Israelis told U.S. officials that ground operations were continuing, and Monday’s renewed air strikes were close-in support for operations against rocket launchers that were about to be used, said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Israel had said when it agreed to suspend aerial operations that it was maintaining its right to respond to threats of attack being prepared against it, the official said, saying no authorization had been given to speak publicly on this subject.

The official added that it’s important that the aerial suspension be implemented to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered and safe passage to continue.

Posted by permission fromDr. Daniel Pipes. Its appearance is independent of this blog, and should not be construed to either agree or disagree with the opinions expressed on this blog, or on any other website.

One answer came last week, when Saddam Hussein had his Islamic leaders appeal to Muslims worldwide to join his jihad to defeat the “wicked Americans” should they attack Iraq; then he himself threatened the United States with jihad.

As this suggests, jihad is “holy war.” Or, more precisely: It means the legal, compulsory, communal effort to expand the territories ruled by Muslims at the expense of territories ruled by non-Muslims.

The purpose of jihad, in other words, is not directly to spread the Islamic faith but to extend sovereign Muslim power (faith, of course, often follows the flag). Jihad is thus unabashedly offensive in nature, with the eventual goal of achieving Muslim dominion over the entire globe.

Jihad did have two variant meanings through the centuries, one more radical, one less so. The first holds that Muslims who interpret their faith differently are infidels and therefore legitimate targets of jihad. (This is why Algerians, Egyptians and Afghans have found themselves, like Americans and Israelis, so often the victims of jihadist aggression.) The second meaning, associated with mystics, rejects the legal definition of jihad as armed conflict and tells Muslims to withdraw from the worldly concerns to achieve spiritual depth.

Jihad in the sense of territorial expansion has always been a central aspect of Muslim life. That’s how Muslims came to rule much of the Arabian Peninsula by the time of the Prophet Muhammad’s death in 632. It’s how, a century later, Muslims had conquered a region from Afghanistan to Spain. Subsequently, jihad spurred and justified Muslim conquests of such territories as India, Sudan, Anatolia, and the Balkans.

Today, jihad is the world’s foremost source of terrorism, inspiring a worldwide campaign of violence by self-proclaimed jihadist groups:

The International Islamic Front for the Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders: Osama bin Laden’s organization;

Laskar Jihad: responsible for the murder of more than 10,000 Christians in Indonesia;

Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami: a leading cause of violence in Kashmir;

Palestinian Islamic Jihad: the most vicious anti-Israel terrorist group of them all;

But jihad’s most ghastly present reality is in Sudan, where until recently the ruling party bore the slogan “Jihad, Victory and Martyrdom.” For two decades, under government auspices, jihadists there have physically attacked non-Muslims, looted their belongings and killed their males.

Jihadists then enslaved tens of thousands of females and children, forced them to convert to Islam, sent them on forced marches, beat them and set them to hard labor. The women and older girls also suffered ritual gang-rape, genital mutilation and a life of sexual servitude.

Sudan’s state-sponsored jihad has caused about 2 million deaths and the displacement of another 4 million – making it the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of our era.

Despite jihad’s record as a leading source of conflict for 14 centuries, causing untold human suffering, academic and Islamic apologists claim it permits only defensive fighting, or even that it is entirely non-violent. Three American professors of Islamic studies colorfully make the latter point, explaining jihad as:

An “effort against evil in the self and every manifestation of evil in society” (Ibrahim Abu-Rabi, Hartford Seminary);

“Resisting apartheid or working for women’s rights” (Farid Eseck, Auburn Seminary), and

It would be wonderful were jihad to evolve into nothing more aggressive than controlling one’s anger, but that will not happen simply by wishing away a gruesome reality. To the contrary, the pretense of a benign jihad obstructs serious efforts at self-criticism and reinterpretation.

The path away from terrorism, conquest and enslavement lies in Muslims forthrightly acknowledging jihad’s historic role, followed by apologies to jihad’s victims, developing an Islamic basis for nonviolent jihad and (the hardest part) actually ceasing to wage violent jihad.

Unfortunately, such a process of redemption is not now under way; violent jihad will probably continue until it is crushed by a superior military force (Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, please take note). Only when jihad is defeated will moderate Muslims finally find their voice and truly begin the hard work of modernizing Islam.

The United Nations is impotent. That’s the only diagnosis an objective person can arrive at if you look at the facts. Time and time again, the United Nations has been called upon to protect innocent people and has failed. …[Read more]

On the grounds of a military base an hour’s drive from the capital, the Bush administration is building a massive biodefense laboratory unlike any seen since biological weapons were banned 34 years ago. …[Read more]

Thousands of people journeyed to a serene hillside south of Highway 50 on Saturday to visit a new Mormon temple that opened to the public this weekend.

The white granite building, called the Sacramento California Temple, is the seventh to be built in the state. Until now, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who lived in Northern California had to travel to Oakland when they wanted to attend temple. …[Read more]

Around 10:40 p.m., smoke billowed from the attic of a meetinghouse at 451 S. Main owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said Lt. Dave Caron, from the Springville department of public safety.

“The fire started at the stage front (in the gym area), then got into the conduit system, which gave it access to run up the wall and into the attic,” Caron said Saturday.

Caron estimated that the church sustained about $200,000 worth of damage, but not all of the damage was caused by the fire. In fact, except for a broken window and a lingering smell surrounding the building, no evidence of fire could be seen from the outside. …[Read more]

The criticism that Israel is using a “disproportionate response” to the kidnappings of its soldiers is an attempt to morally disarm Israel and make Israel out to be a bully. This notion is ludicrous when considered in the full context: Hezbollah and Hamas initiated the current crisis in an ongoing war against Israel’s right to exist. Notice that no one cried “disproportionate response” when Hamas demanded 1,200 prisoners in exchange for one Israeli hostage. Hamas and Hezbollah aren’t playing a game of proportions, why should Israel?

Israel, an outpost of freedom in the Middle East, has every right to use whatever means necessary for her long-term interests to defeat those who are warring against her. All the “disproportionate response” critics are accomplishing is to empower Israel’s enemies to wage more war, harm more Israeli citizens and escalate the violence. They are kicking Israel when she is down, when she needs our support the most. …[Read more]

Documentary filmmaker Helen Whitney has long explored subjects that asked spiritual and existential questions, even if the films weren’t about religion.

Now the New Yorker, who has made such PBS documentaries as “Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero” and “The Millennial Pope: John Paul II,” is turning her lens on the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for a new three-hour film that examines one the world’s fastest-growing religions.

The film, which is scheduled to be released in the spring, is the first co-production from PBS’ “American Experience” and “Frontline.”

“It is a thematic portrait of this religion,” Whitney said from her New York home. “It’s not going to be a chronological or linear film or comprehensive, even at three hours. It will explore what I consider the defining themes and different events.” …[Read more]

… Charles Johnson is doing a excellent job of rounding up photos and reports of anti-Israel demonstrations around the world. The fact that a pro-Hezbollah sentiment has been repeatedly witnessed is disgusting, especially in America. Below are links to his posts but be sure to click on the links within the posts for many more photos. …[Read more]

… However, my conclusion that Hezbollah is more of a danger to real ‘Islam’ is becoming more evident. This is not a ‘holy’ war as it is perceived. It’s a clash between ‘political’ ideologies operating under the disguise of ‘religious’ association. This threat must be stopped! …

JEWISH leaders have been horrified by a drunken outburst from Hollywood superstar Mel Gibson, blaming the Jews “for all the wars in the world”. Australia’s most famous actor allegedly unleashed an extraordinary anti-Semitic rant after he was arrested for speeding and drink-driving in Los Angeles on Friday night. …[Read more]

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader issued a worldwide call Thursday for Muslims to rise up in a holy war against Israel and join the fighting in Lebanon and Gaza until Islam reigns from “Spain to Iraq.” …[Read more]

… The Savior’s mandate to his apostles prior to his ascension was for the apostles to “go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a missionary church as a result of the Savior’s mandate. At present, there are 52,000 full-time missionaries who serve in various areas throughout the world. …

… Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints taught about bringing blessings to others when he said: ”… We can all be a little kinder, a little more patient, a little more helpful. We can reach out to the very many who are in distress for any number of reasons. We can replace anger with love. We can put selfishness out of our lives. We can get on our knees and pray to the father in the name of Jesus, and then stand on our feet and reach out to bless the destitute, the poor, the oppressed and those in trouble… May each of you have some selfless, long to be remembered experience in bringing blessings to others.” …

On the 50th anniversary of our national motto, “In God We Trust,” we reflect on these words that guide millions of Americans, recognize the blessings of the Creator, and offer our thanks for His great gift of liberty.

From its earliest days, the United States has been a Nation of faith. During the War of 1812, as the morning light revealed that the battle-torn American flag still flew above Fort McHenry, Francis Scott Key penned, “And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust!'” His poem became our National Anthem, reminding generations of Americans to “Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.” On July 30, 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the law officially establishing “In God We Trust” as our national motto.

Today, our country stands strong as a beacon of religious freedom. Our citizens, whatever their faith or background, worship freely and millions answer the universal call to love their neighbor and serve a cause greater than self.

As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of our national motto and remember with thanksgiving God’s mercies throughout our history, we recognize a divine plan that stands above all human plans and continue to seek His will.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim July 30, 2006, as the 50th Anniversary of our National Motto, “In God We Trust.” I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-first.

On Friday the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle was viciously attacked by the terror of madman Naveed Afzal Haq. Haq is apparently a 30 year old “Muslim American” who was reportedly a ‘loner’ and ‘mentally ill.’ At 4 P.M. on July 28th, he stormed into the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and reportedly announced that he was a “Muslim American” and that he “was angry with Israel.” He began shooting indiscriminately at the 18 employees in the office murdering one and critically injuring five.

The entire Seattle interfaith community must be horrified after witnessing Friday’s barbaric hate crimes perpetrated upon the Jewish community of Seattle. One can only pray for their strength as they recover. When one faith is attacked with a hate crime every one of us is affected.

Can this all simply be dismissed as the actions of a lone crazed gunman? Is the fact that he was Muslim a footnote or actually a symptom of a more systemic illness– islamism? What inspired his hate? Is his inspiration only the truly fanatic or do the likes of Naveen Haq find something from within the ideology of mainstream Islamism which lights their spark?

In the rest of the country, we can only sit and pray that such horror never happen again. But, recent history argues otherwise. It’s a matter of time. We can no longer waste any time. It is long overdue that we go beyond the ‘politically correct’ dismissals of these so-called isolated episodes of ‘rage’. These individuals may not be connected in the conscious realm but there is a subconscious realm of Islamism which is ignored. It is time to seriously evaluate the signs, symptoms, and pathological origin of each incident (each moderate turned fanatic). Make a diagnosis. And then institute a treatment.

Recall, on July 4, 2002, Mr. Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, a crazed Egyptian-American immigrant Muslim, opened fire at the ticketing counter of El Al Airlines at Los Angeles International airport murdering two and wounding four before being shot down. In March of this year, Mohammed Reza Taheri-Azar, terrorized the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill driving his vehicle into nine pedestrians all of whom fortunately survived. Before their rampages each had blamed the U.S. and the west for ‘killing Muslims’ so they responded with rage.

At the end of the day, there is little difference in the motivation, the means, or the ends of groups like Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbullah, or any of these ‘crazed’ individuals. Thus, it is the intangible, their spiritual subconscious we must combat. Muslims turned crazed Islamofascists strike out at America, Jews, or any of a list of other groups because of their ideology and their anti-social mindset. We cannot ignore their common ideological progenitor- Islamism. We naively dismiss the common psychological features of these psychopaths to our own peril. Each individual is uniquely ill, but their lethal inspiration is the same.

The dust should not settle on this shooting in Seattle without harnessing our resources to address what exactly was the specific ideological stimuli which lit this man’s psychopathic match. We certainly cannot attempt to predict or prevent psychopathology. The point is rather to determine what information or ideas led to his combustion and defeat it.

There should be no holds bar in looking under every stone in order to learn what exactly drove the mind of Naveen Haq in the weeks and months leading to his rage. Investigators should reveal all in shedding light upon the specifics of the ideologies which finally drove Haq to the breaking point. It is of great interest for us to know what websites, books, publications and ideologies sparked his mind and his subconscious. We are each a product of what we absorb and each individual can respond to the same hate differently depending upon their guiding moral compass. If we can begin to understand what ideologies drive these few Muslims toward terror, we can begin to unravel and defeat the very soul of our enemy abroad and domestically.

Defeat the ideology and these radical outbursts will disappear.

As some Muslim organizations rushed yesterday to condemn the shootings, in “the strongest possible terms”, such condemnations seem to be misplaced and just more misdirected energy. If these organizations had active concerted anti-Islamist campaigns to deconstruct the supremacist Islamist ideology which feeds these individuals, they would shed the sense of need to ever make bizarre pronouncements of condemnations which should go without saying. The problem they find themselves in is that many sane Muslims as part of radical political movements from Bin Laden to Zawahiri to Nasrallah to Ahmednidijad say and do the same type of violence.

My coreligionists along with conventional wisdom need to finally begin working toward defeating Islamism as an ideology, or these series will sadly continue.

Within the widely prevalent ideology of Islamism (in its most radical form-Islamofascism) is a utopian, intolerant, anti-Semitic, anti-Western, theocratic exclusivity. This is the clinical progenitor of the primary malignant tumor cell of all that is islamofascism whether in the individual or the community. These cells can divide and produce many different cancers-some more malignant than others.

One type of Islamist malignant cancer cell plants itself in the community of Muslims in their religion, politics and government mixing all as one and suffocating the individual and their own faith. It manifests in the community consciousness of the regimes and movements of the likes of Iran, Hamas, Al Qaeda, and Hezbullah and other radical or fundamentalist Islamist movements.

Another very similar malignant cancer cell type plants itself in the accepting pathological minds of individuals like Haq and manifests itself in the final actions of these individuals and their own subconscious derangement. Both the communal malignancy and the individual malignancy are similar drives toward domination of society which is threatened by the west, threatened by religious freedom and liberty, and threatened by our anti-theocratic ideology.

Only Muslims can acknowledge the role of Islamism in sparking this violence. Only Muslims can place the inebriating nature of this ideology outside of Islam and thus outside our consciousness. Even a moderated Islamism may be less violent but it is still intoxicating to the weak accepting mind in its all-encompassing form. The growing list of radical violent outbursts from selected Muslim individuals and terror organizations makes the case for the fact that Islamism is actually a malignancy and could never be moderated since it is a failed ideology at its core.

Islamists would argue that they cannot be held responsible for preventing the actions of a deranged few within their midst. Is this reply much different from a family or our society arguing that it bears no responsibility for the deaths caused by a drunk-driver. Law enforcement does have an impact, but there is no greater prevention than the treatment of alcoholism. Similarly, Islamism needs to be defeated. For, when infused into a consciousness it can lead to this type of spontaneous violence in the name of religion.

The American Muslim community needs to take the first of its twelve steps and acknowledge that Islamism may be the spark within the community which keeps setting localities ablaze. As we learn and expose where Islamism directly conflicts with Americanism we will cross each step towards a treatment and a sorely needed cure against the malignant manifestations of radical Islamism.

Rather than waste time condemning acts which any sane human being would find unconscionable, sane Muslim Americans need to dismantle the ideology which fuels the minds that commit these acts. That is the least we can do to honor the memory of those who lose their lives or are injured in these heinous hate crimes.

In Wednesday’s Washington Times, it was refreshing to see Tony Blankley lead the way in demanding that the American public start asking more questions about Islamism. He asks the questions which very few are asking and yet seems so obvious after so long into this war.

The unrelenting series of Islamist terrorist actions around the world could not be disconnected groups when they all share the same Islamist ideological goals. Hezbullah and its recent prelude to war against Israel cannot be “Just another Coincidence?“. He poignantly says the following which is excerpted from his July 26,2006 editorial.

“Most Europeans – and far too many Americans – still see Hezbollah terrorism as just part of that Arab-Israeli mess in the Middle East. (And, of course, Hezbollah doesn’t want foreigners to stop it from killing.) But, more importantly, most of the peoples of the world – including U.S. citizens – still don’t believe that radical Islamist terrorism is a grave, worldwide challenge to civilization. And therein lies our greatest strategic failure to date. So long as most people – certainly most Europeans, perhaps most Americans – see Islamist terrorism as merely the more or less disconnected actions of a relatively small number of fanatics, then Europeans will never send their sons to fight and die to defeat it.”

What should be done? Here are his specific recommendations which should be heeded if we are to win this war:

The president should give a series of major speeches on the nature of the worldwide threat…The Senate and House Foreign Relations Committees should hold extensive, high-octane, joint, select public hearings in the next two months on the nature of the threat. Let the best advocates for each perception testify. Former presidents, princes, generals and specialists should all come and testify. Congress can and must give both depth of analysis and sustained public attention to such a presidential initiative. The media should give major front-page and top-of-the-news attention to such a great debate. It is not enough for Fox, The Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, talk radio, selected authors and blogs to carry on the debate. The mainstream mediashould join in giving prolonged, prominent coverage in conjunction with such hearings.

In five years we have, remarkably, never had such a sustained effort to publicly debate the nature of the danger. At the outset of the Cold War, Congress spent years holding hearings on the “red menace.” Some people think they overdid it. I do not. It required that sort of an effort to establish the public support and bipartisan judgment over the 50 years that Communism was in fact a worldwide threat to civilization. It was such a threat; and it was defeated – but only because the public, for 50 years, understood the danger and voted for politicians who were prepared to devote trillions to defense.

As the Iranian parliament today distributed Hezbullah flags to its members shamelessly in true to form radical islamofascism, the interconnectedness of Islamist regimes and terrrorist Islamist organizations like Hezbullah was again plain for all to see. And yet, we remain nationally silent with so little debate in the public arena over Islamism.

Mr. Blankley finishes with continued clarity for our next steps against Islamism as a nation:

“Before action must come belief; before belief must come understanding; before understanding must come education and debate. In the beginning was the word. It is time to begin.”

Question: What’s the difference between the Arab League and the academic Left that despises Israel? Answer: Only the Arab League is willing to condemn Hezbollah.

The surreal politics of this war finds Saudi Arabia attributing “full responsibility” to Hezbollah and calling on the terrorists to “alone shoulder the crisis they have created;” it finds Kuwaiti journalists lauding the “operations of Israel in Gaza and Lebanon [that] are in the interest of people of Arab countries and the international community,” even as hundreds of American professors rush to denounce Israel for firing back at genocidal killers sworn to her destruction.

More than 1,000 such professors have signed a petition that is currently circulating on American college campuses. Written in the name of “academics who condemn Israel’s aggression against Lebanon and Gaza,” the petition waxes indignant about Israel’s alleged crimes, including a “brutal bombing and invasion of Gaza,” and “acts of Israeli state terrorism” in Lebanon. …

… Behind the obscene double standard set forth in the petition, wherein Israel is attacked for defending its right to exist and terrorists escape all blame, is a conviction, all too common among the academic Left, that Israel’s very existence is both regrettable and undesirable. …[Read more]

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